About 25 percent of Taiwan’s mobile service subscribers are likely to buy Apple Inc’s newly unveiled iPhone 5 when it hits local stores, HSBC Holdings PLC said in a report yesterday.

The addressable market for iPhone 5 users in the country is projected to reach 5.9 million, or 25 percent of the top three telecoms operators’ combined subscriber numbers, said Neale Anderson, a Hong Kong-based analyst at HSBC’s global research division.

That will include 2.5 million users who subscribe to Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信), the country’s largest mobile provider, along with 1.7 million users each from Taiwan Mobile Co (台灣大哥大) and Far EasTone Telecommunications Co (遠傳電信), he wrote.

The estimated 25 percent penetration rate in Taiwan is much higher than that in neighboring countries, including Japan at 11.1 percent, South Korea at 4.2 percent and China at just 3.9 percent, the report said.

However, Singapore and Hong Kong are forecast to outperform Taiwan, with penetration rates of 44.9 percent and 25.3 percent respectively, Anderson said.